The Toronto Raptors closed out their brief road trip in a matchup against the Boston Celtics. Shorthanded and facing a hot-handed Celtics team almost at full strength proved to be too much for the Raptors. Despite the strong defensive effort and scoring from the bench, it wasn’t enough to bring Toronto another win as they fell to the Celtics 117-125.
Boston lost Jayson Tatum for the season a while ago, but despite his absence, Payton Pritchard and Jaylen Brown have shone. They are both able to score
and facilitate for their teammates. Pritchard’s timing and shot selection made him an efficient scorer, finishing with 27-5-8 on 12-19 shooting. Brown’s shooting wasn’t as effective, but he found ways to get to the line where he converted every shot, contributing to the 25-8-7 he closed the game with. Despite struggling, his gravity on the floor helped open up space for everyone else. His absences from the court usually saw Boston either losing its lead at least in part.
RJ and IQ were both big factors in this game, as anyone could have expected. They finished with 19-4-7 and 17-2-13 respectively. While both did a bit of everything, they faced tough competition in the top half of Boston’s lineup, needing the bench to play winning minutes. Jamal Shead and Alijah Martin played phenomenal defence that helped make that happen, chipping in 13 points and 7 assists and 7 points and 3 assists, respectively. Ja’Kobe Walter and rookie Collin Murray-Boyles also both had solid games on both ends of the court. Ja’Kobe ended with 19 points shooting 5-9 from 3-point territory while CMB had 7 points to go along with his defence.
The Celtics started with the ball and were able to convert on their first possession by way of free throws. Their offence looked smooth early, taking advantage of one of the more unique starting lineups of the season touching the floor for Toronto, composed of Ja’Kobe, RJ, Mamu, IQ, and CMB. Everything was finding the bottom of the basket Boston, who shot over 70% from the floor for much of the first frame.
For the Raptors, Immanuel Quickley showed his intention to lead the Raptors in this game by shooting early and often and converting a pair of long range shots in the opening minutes. He also facilitated well, finding guys running the floor and cutting to the basket.
Here’s a perfect example:
Toronto had their work cut out for them, lacking Scottie, BI, and Jak. The lineup needed to be bolstered by the two-way guys in Martin and Lawson who have been having a record year with the 905. Both touched the floor early on in the game. It wasn’t to the Raptors’ detriment though, as they went toe-to-toe with the Celtics’ bench and came out on top.
It didn’t hurt to have a play like this to really get the guys going:
The bench brought the Raps back into the game during the second quarter. They briefly held a lead around the halfway point of the second period, but proceeded to allow transition scoring and second-chance points, rapidly giving it back to the Celtics who again built a multi-possession advantage. To make matters worse, they struggled to score as well in the closing stretch of the half, turning over the ball or missing their first shot of the possession and failing to corral the rebound. Down by 8, they headed to the locker room.
In the third, the Raptors’ offence stalled a bit while Boston continued to get shooters open along the 3-point line. Jaylen Brown was able to draw fouls and add to the score with the clock stopped. Despite strong efforts from RJ and IQ, they weren’t able to get much going on either end of the court. Now, 20 points behind, the bench returned. Then it felt like a totally different game again. Shot clock violations, forced turnovers, and jump balls were the bread and butter for this team with the bench on the floor. By the time the quarter was over, they were within 11.
Making their final push, Toronto made it within two possessions. Boston called a timeout, made some adjustments, and returned with a fury. RJ went down with an apparent ankle injury that hopefully isn’t serious, but that appeared to be the final straw for the Raptors tonight. Ja’Kobe was able to chip in a couple more 3-pointers and some strong defensive effort from Martin and CMB to close out the game were positive notes.
Interestingly, everyone who came off the bench boasted a positive plus minus while all five starters were in the negative. Although they lost the game, they won their bench minutes, which isn’t something they’ve been able to say over the last couple seasons.
Next, the Raptors return home for back-to-back games against Philly. Tune in Sunday at 6pm ET to catch the action.
